Health Canada Labeling Regulations for Allergens including Gluten

In February 2011, Health Canada implemented new stronger labeling restrictions that "...require clearer language and the declaration of otherwise "hidden" allergens, gluten sources, and sulphites".

This is a big win for the Celiac's in Edmonton as well as Canada. It is sometimes tough to determine by looking at those long winded terms in the ingredients and determine if there is wheat or gluten in it. Especially since those labels never explicitly said wheat or gluten, but some sort of convoluted term.

There is all sorts of information about the new labeling regulations on Health Canada's website that will explain it in more detail, and some of the exemptions like Alcoholic Beverages. This brief outline is straight from the Health Canada website:

These regulatory amendments will require that the source of a food allergen or gluten be shown on the label of most prepackaged products when the food allergen or gluten is present in the prepackaged product. The food allergen or gluten source will be required to be shown on the product label in consistent and easy to understand terminology. For example, if casein is present in a prepackaged product, the word "milk" will be shown on the product label. The source of the food allergen or gluten will be shown either in the list of ingredients or in a "Contains" statement.

Unfortunately there is no regulation for cross contamination, so it is still up to the manufacturer to place the label "Produced in a facility that has processed wheat/gluten"

Health Canada has given industry 18 months to implement these new labeling regulations.

Click here for the Government of Canada news release about the new allergen labeling regulations.

Click here for detailed regulatory impact statement about the allergen labeling regulations including gluten and sulphites.

Click here for a video explaining these labeling regulations or watch the Health Canada video below: